Myth in Poetry

Myths: Systems of Symbolic Allusion Mythology = stories and beliefs of a society Greek, Roman, Norse, Native American, others Mythological motifs and themes are common to many cultures. Carl Jung identified recurring images, characters, events in his patients as archetypes (i.e., all humans share a universal or collective unconscious) Joseph Campbell, academic expert on myths (The Power of Myth, The Hero with a Thousand Faces)

Joseph Campbell http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JM10AvJ3bsM& feature=relmfu

Archetypes A set of images that are symbolic references to universal types, such as warrior, priest, mother, and king. When a poet uses an archetype, he or she can assume that the reader will make the association between that archetype and the characteristics commonly assigned to it. These images have particular emotional resonance and power. Archetypes recur in different times and places in myth, literature, folklore, fairy tales, dreams, artwork, and religious rituals. Some examples: the orphaned prince or the lost chieftain's son raised ignorant of his heritage until he is rediscovered by his parents, or the damsel in distress rescued from a hideous monster by a handsome young man who later marries the girl. Also, the long journey, the difficult quest or search, the catalog of difficult tasks, the pursuit of revenge, the descent into the underworld, redemptive rituals, fertility rites, the great flood, the End of the World.

Retelling a myth--Leda Leda And The Swan by William Butler Yeats A sudden blow: the great wings beating still Above the staggering girl, her thighs caressed By his dark webs, her nape caught in his bill, He holds her helpless breast upon his breast. (This is not the entire poem, see poem on pg 781) (Note: Leda – mother of Helen of Troy)

Landscape with Icarus http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Bruegel,_Pieter_d e_Oude_-_De_val_van_icarus_-_hi_res.jpg

LANDSCAPE WITH THE FALL OF ICARUS by William Carlos Williams According to Brueghel when Icarus fell it was spring a farmer was ploughing his field the whole pageantry of the year was awake tingling near the edge of the sea concerned with itself sweating in the sun that melted the wings' wax insignificantly off the coast there was a splash quite unnoticed it was Icarus drowning.

ICARUS by Edward Field Only the feathers floating around the hat Showed that anything more spectacular had occurred Than the usual drowning. The police preferred to ignore The confusing aspects of the case, And the witnesses ran off to a gang war. So the report filed and forgotten in the archives read simply Drowned, but it was wrong: Icarus Had swum away, coming at last to the city Where he rented a house and tended the garden. That nice Mr. Hicks the neighbors called him, Never dreaming that the gray, respectable suit Concealed arms that had controlled huge wings Nor that those sad, defeated eyes had once Compelled the sun. And had he told them They would have answered with a shocked, uncomprehending stare.

In class writing activity Read Cinderella by Anne Sexton on pgs 878-880. Answer the questions that follow.